"Sunshine Week Shame: 10 Ways the Government Is Opaque"
by David Kravets
As Sunshine Week sets, it's a good time to take a quick inventory
of the federal government's ongoing failures of transparency.

MapLight.org, which tracks the influence of money in politics,
ran down the opacity the public confronts at every level of
governmentfrom antiquated campaign-finance reporting
requirements to Freedom of Information Act shortfalls.
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L. Neil Smith's novel Ceres has been published for Kindle,
buy and download it from this
this link,
and on paper, buy it from Amazon.com from
this link.

Hip Deep in the Big Sandyby L. Neil Smith
I woke up one morning last week to discover that, thanks to a
marriage of convenience between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and a
number of Republicansstarting with Sarah PalinPresident Barack Hussein
Obama has authorized the American military to take part in establishing a "no
fly zone" across Libya, ostensibly in support of individuals in rebellion against
longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
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The Crackpots Who Rule Usby Bob Wallace
For many years I have been wondering about the relationship between
the rulers and the ruled. With a nod to C. Wright Mills, I have decided many those who
gravitate towards the State are merely crackpots. Or as Mills termed them, "crackpot realists."
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I Like Big Knives:The Nepalese Kukriby L. Neil Smith
Growing up in the military, in the shadow of World War II, I saw
lots of strange and fascinating things around the neighborhood and in school. If the
same rules had applied back in the 1950s that are in force today, all of my friends
and I would still be in prison under official "zero tolerance" prohibitions against
anything that was interesting or fun.
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Megawattsocialism
Or
When Politicians Play Ghodby Ulrich Biele
The latest earthquake in Japan was a terrific disaster which concerns
every Japaneseand with but slight delayevery living creature on this planet.
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The Original Free State Projectby Jim Davidson
It all began with the abrogation of the Compromise of 1850. Territory
for the states of Kansas and Colorado, among others, was provided to the United States by
the state of Texas in the 1850 compromise for the purpose of securing funds to pay off the
war debts of the former Republic of Texas. The Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 was designed to
break the Missouri compromise, abrogate the compromise of 1850, and inflame sectional
controversy. These things it did.
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Ultimate Authorityby L. Neil Smith
An enormous amount of fluff has been floated by all sides of every
issue over the concept of the United States Constitution as a "social contract". Most
pertinent, in all likelihood, to those individuals who call themselves libertarians,
are the curious notions, stated in a little pamphlet, still in print, called No
Treason: the Constitution of No Authority, of a 19th century abolitionist lawyer
with a splendidly sprawling beard, as well as the splendidly sprawling name of Lysander
Spooner.
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Individual Sovereign University Eventsby Jim Davidson
The Individual Sovereign University founding fiesta was great fun for
all involved. We had excellent speakers, a great hotel for the occasion, plenty of good
people, and conversations about everythingno holds barred. You can visit our web site
at IndSovU.com for details on the conference, what was planned. We're also accepting
deposits for the upcoming shows. I'll be posting more details about the conference
here in this note, starting with Gary Chartier's speech and running right through to
the dead dog party.
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Atlantea The Beautiful No. 117by L. Neil Smith and Rex May
Number 117 of a weekly cartoon series.
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